FROM THE PUBLISHER

The judicial confirmation process is in a state of chaos. America's culture war has set the stage for a power struggle reaching to the highest court in the land-the Supreme Court. Integrity and ability are no longer the criteria for evaluating the caliber of a judge. Rather it is one's position on hot-button social issues. Without control of the White House, the House, or the Senate, the Left looks to liberal activist judges rather than to the American voters or their elected representatives to create new rights.

Americans who believe in the rule of law must understand and challenge the liberal notion of a "living Constitution," which has politicized the judiciary and provoked today's confirmation battles. We are witnessing not only the testing of the judicial nomination system but a downward spiral in civility within the U.S. Senate. Nominees endure partisan conflict rather than a dignified and respectful legislative process. Liberal special-interest groups degrade confirmation proceedings into bitter character assassinations that malign the reputations of nominees.

During his confirmation process, Judge Charles Pickering waited years to be confirmed and was ultimately forced into retirement by a Democrat minority unwilling to give him the decency of an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. In Supreme Chaos, Judge Pickering, who faced unprecedented use of the filibuster by Senate Democrats, provides an insightful assessment of the situation and argues that we must find a way out of the quagmire for the sake of the judiciary, our children and grandchildren, and the rights of all Americans. Pickering's vision of a repaired confirmation process offers hope that restored from the chaos-that justice under the rule of law as established in the Constitution will prevail.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
"Judge Charles Pickering is without a doubt among the best-qualified people in America to rescue us from the chaos of the current judicial confirmation process. His insights give us hope that the process can once more return to fairness and civility."
- Newt Gingrich

"Charles Pickering is a brave man with an enthralling story to tell about the corruption of the Senate's process of confirming federal judges. Pickering has a bold solution, and he makes a persuasive case for it in this highly readable book." - Executive editor of The Weekly Standard and Fox News commentator.
Fred Barnes

"From the man whom Senator Ted Kennedy called an "extremist" comes a compelling and thought-provoking book about the breakdown of the judicial confirmation process and how the Democrats in the Senate will stop at nothing to destroy conservative nominees. Judge Pickering has seen this process firsthand, and his experience is a testament to his intellect, restraint, civility, patriotism, and strength of character in the face of adversity."
- Sean Hannity

"Judge Pickering details the Senate's shameful behavior towards America's best and brightest legal minds and explains why some of our best judges choose not to serve."
- Host of MSNBC's Scarborough Countryand former congressman
Joe Scarborough

"The Pickering nomination is a case-study in how powerful special-interest groups have been able to hijack the confirmation process, . . . and [I] find it extremely unfortunate that the politics of confirmation can turn a life well-lived upside down."
- U.S. Senator (R-SC)
Lindsey Graham

ACCREDITATION

CHARLES W. PICKERING SR., retired federal circuit judge, knows firsthand the chaos of the broken judicial confirmation process.

After unanimous Senate confirmation, President George H. W. Bush appointed Judge Pickering United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi on October 2, 1990. In May 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Judge Pickering to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. When asked to evaluate his ten years on the bench, the American Bar Association gave Judge Pickering its highest rating, "Well Qualified."